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Saturday, 12 September 2009

TNA Slammiversary - DVD Review

Having just reviewed Ring of Honor’s seventh anniversary show, it seems apt somehow that my next review sees me taking a look at the DVD release of Total Non-Stop Action’s seventh anniversary show, Slammiversary, and as I’ve already reviewed television broadcast of the show in June, I’m going to again take an overall look at the show.I have to admit my second viewing of this show has changed my opinion a little. While the King of the Mountain X Division title opener is a very enjoyable affair, with the Motor City Machine Guns and Lethal Consequences ganging up on the masked star Suicide, things take a slight downturn with the “Second Chance” encounter pitting Christopher Daniels against Shane Douglas. It is a disappointing match, even before Douglas sustained an injury that clearly hampered him.

The Knockouts title match pitting champion Angelina Love against former WWE Diva Tara is an enjoyable affair, and another example of just how watchable the Knockouts division can me at times. The lovely ladies get another outing in the weapons-based brawl as well, as Taylor Wilde teams with Abyss against Daffney and Raven in the Monsters Ball. I have to admit I’m not entirely sure about having female wrestlers in such a match, but they did well.

Sting versus Matt Morgan is a somewhat lacklustre affair which isn’t really given that much time to develop, and Sting’s baby face role in a heel faction could be confusing if you watch this show without knowing much about the back story. But while Sting/Morgan is a tad too short, then the tag title match pitting champions Team 3D against Beer Money may be a tad too long. It’s entertaining, but I’m left to wonder if the extra time was allocated to this one to allow the British Invasion to do their thing.

The main event sees Mick Foley defending his World title against Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe in the second King of the Mountain match. Although Foley takes some big bumps here, overall his performance is on a par with the rest of his TNA tenure, disappointing. However, the other four men in this one make up for Foley’s shortcomings, and the swerve at the end is well played out, although if you’ve seen this show before and you watch the pre-match promos you can see that those concerned were dropping massive hints.

There’s the usual DVD extras, with backstage interviews and stuff. The box said that there was also the pre-show match pitting the British Invasion against Rhino and Eric Young, although I couldn’t actually find this in the extras menu.

In all, Slammiversary 2009 is, as with many TNA shows, a mixed bag. You’ll be enthralled by the good parts, but you may end up banging your head over the bad parts.